I'm a massive horror fan, but as any horror fan will tell you, being a fan of this genre is more often than not a big disappointment. Out of all the overhyped, overblown scare-fest trailers, maybe 1 out of 10 films will be worth your while. And often, the best gems are the ones that didn't make much of a splash, or tell the story in an atypical way. Netflix is pretty awesome for finding lesser known horror gems. With that said, you've probably heard of most of the films on this list, and some of the picks are pretty unsurprising. For all vintage horror fans whine about modern horror, I think there has been some pretty amazing ones this decade.
I find myself often liking horror films that people argue aren't actually horror, but are thrillers or drama or satire. Quite a few films on this list have been accused of being something other than actual horror. For me that's always a good thing, it means the directors will often actually focus on the story and the characters instead of just trying to gross people out as much as possible.
Just a warning for folks, I'm not a big fan of endless parades of gore. It's not that it grosses me out too much, I just find things have gotten so extreme that it's boring. I always find “less is more” makes a much better film. And that goes for jump scares and monsters as well. Often, the less the monster is seen the creepier it actually is.
American Mary
Mary is a medical student training to be a surgeon. She can barely afford her classes so she takes a part time job in a strip club. She is then approached by a woman who has undergone surgery to look as much like Betty Boop as she can. She offers Mary a load of cash to perform an illegal surgery on a friend who wants to look like a Barbie doll...in short, she wants her nipples and labia removed. Although disturbed, Mary agrees to do the surgery because of the money. After a traumatic event Mary drops out of medical school and becomes a full time body modification surgeon.
Starring the gorgeous Katherine Isabelle perhaps best known for her role in “Ginger Snaps”, “American Mary” never made much of a splash. In short it is a pretty gruesome body horror and revenge flick, which is a genre I generally dislike because of the gore factor, but this one has a compelling story and solid performances. None of the gore is really too distasteful or gratuitous and it's all in keeping with the story. Most revenge flicks are disgusting and distasteful to me, but this one is very well done, and avoids falling into too many familiar tropes and it's littered with black humour. Twin directors Sylvia and Jen Soska have a cameo in the film. Their previous offering “Dead Hooker in a Trunk” is just as bad as it sounds, and this is a considerable step up in terms of film making for them.
The Innkeepers
Claire and Luke are two bored young employees at a hotel which is closing down. Asthmatic Claire recently dropped out of college and Luke runs a website listing hauntings which occur at the hotel. Both of them are obsessed with ghost hunting and obsessed with a legend in which a jilted bride hanged herself in the basement.
This is a slow burner of a horror flick and is decidedly “quiet”, going for strong character building over cheap shocks. It has a rather sweet feel to it as well, the main characters are an insanely lovable pair of complete dorks. It's gore-free and there's a lot of dialogue and ghostly scenes which seem half imagined by the supernatural obsessed main characters. If you like your horror like “Saw” or “Se7en” you'd probably best give this a miss. I would describe this as an excellent horror for people who don't normally like the genre, it's solidly well made, well cast and well acted. It has an old fashioned ghost story type of feel to it. It's definitely not the flashiest or most exciting film on this list but I have a real soft spot for it. The last few minutes of “The Innkeepers” are worth the build in my opinion and there's an excellent blink-and-you'll-miss it final scene. It's definitely not a traditional horror film, but to me those are the ones that often turn out to be the best ones, because they don't rely on the usual carnage and jump scare bonanza.
Sinister
After “Insidious” came “Sinister”, and everyone seems to find “Insidious” better/more scary. I beg to differ. It's not the best film on this list. Generally in a horror film I like a strong plot, decent performances and decent characters. I would “Sinister” is probably the least well made film on this list, it's here for one reason...it's ability to scare the bejesus out of me. Not that the acting or story is awful, but mostly it just gave me nightmares.
True crime writer Ellison (Ethan Hawke) hasn't written a bestseller in over ten years. He discovers a house which was the scene of a grisly murder of an entire family. He decides to move his family in to see if he can uncover the truth of what happened, however his family aren't aware of the history of the house when they move. While exploring the attic he comes across a grisly super-8 film of the crime and there the fun begins.
I love horror but I have watched so many now that there are very few that genuinely scare me anymore. “Sinister” left me completely cold and unable to sleep after. It's been a long time since I felt that way after a film. It has the feel of a “haunted house” horror of the “Insidious” type, but it is far more brutal, yet the worst of the gore is suggested rather than shown. The Super 8 films were chilling, the score used over the top of them was dark and disturbing, and the whole feel of the film is just incredible creepy and disturbing. It doesn't fall into the “gore trap” to rely on scares, because the central idea of the plot is scary enough on it's own.
Whatever you do, don't watch the sequel! Terrible for entirely different reasons!
Mama
“Mama” is another horror that some people say isn't actually a horror. This one also falls into the dark fantasy category. It was based on a popular short film of the same name presented by Guillermo Del Toro. The short is still on Youtube and is worth a look. Del Toro also acted as executive producer on the film and it shows. It has his trademark creepy fantasy style.
“Mama” is about a pair of little girls who vanish into the woods when their parents pass away. They are found years later by their uncle Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau from Game of Thrones) and taken into his home where his girlfriend cares for them during the day. The older sister, Victoria, starts to adjust, but the younger sister Lilly is very strange. Both girls bring back a strange presence to the house with them and that's where the high jinks begin!
“Mama” is horror for most of the film and goes full on dark fantasy at the end. The film has a quietly unsettling vibe and manages to be deeply creepy whilst still falling into a few of the usual haunted house cliches. It is a cut above though because the spirit Mama is absolutely horrifying. She is actually played by a real live man called Javier Botet which is insane because she looks complete CGI in the film. This guy has some serious skills of double jointed-ness, “Mama” looks like the sort of creepy creature you see in Japanese ghost story horrors. The film revels in it's dark imagery and builds to a rather over the top ending but the whole thing feels dark, visually arresting, classy and very well made, not at all like your typical modern horror film. It's like a moving, very creepy, painting. Just like so many of the other horror films Del Toro attaches his name to.
Excision
“Excision” is another “not quite a horror” film with as much drama as horror. Less well known than many of the other films on this list, it is as much a character study of a sociopathic personality as it is a horror film. It is an extremely dark and disturbing film that builds quietly towards a really horrible crescendo.
“Excision” follows the daily life of Pauline (AnnaLynne McCord, who looks uncharacteristically unglamorous in this flick). Pauline is an anti-social, disturbed and delusional high school student. Despite being not a very accomplished or even hard-working student, Pauline has aspirations of being a surgeon. Her interest in surgery seems to centre more on a love of blood and cutting things up. This very realistic flick is interspersed with dark sexual fantasies involving mutilation and a great deal of blood. Her day to day life is mundane but we see her disturbed behaviour becoming more and more worrying as the film goes on.
I was truly surprised by McCord's performance in this. IRL she is an incredibly beautiful woman, in this she is uglied up to the max to represent the awkward Pauline. Her performance is magnetic and very dark. Most of this film is straight up (though well made and acted) family drama with a heavy peppering of disturbing moments, it's slow paced and not at all your typical horror flick. However Pauline's worrying behaviour builds to a horrifying climax that will shock you to your core, and it really is worth a look...I would say this one is not for the easily upset or grossed out among you!
Tucker & Dale Vs Evil
Some comic relief after death, blood and mayhem, “Tucker & Dale” is a hilarious mash up of black comedy with a large dose of slapstick, with just about the most lovable hillbillies you will ever meet.
Tucker is played by the always wonderful Alan Tudyk and Dale is played by Tyler Labine. This lovable pair of idiots come across a bunch of college students who are taking off into the woods for a camping trip...a plot we know all too well. Being good little millennials who have swallowed all the horror movie schtick, the students mistake Tucker and Dale for the psycho, chainsaw wielding hillbillies they've seen in many a movie, and unfortunately T&D's every move to prove them wrong results in more carnage.
“Tucker & Dale” is a glorious send up of “into the woods” horror cliches, complete with chainsaws, woodchippers, angry bees, sexy ladies skinny dipping and all the other usual tripe, flipped on it's head and played for bigger and bigger laughs. Every move the hapless duo make to try and help the college kids serves to make them look like bigger axe-wielding redneck psychopaths. There's a few little twists in here, but mostly this is horror comedy done perfectly. It's over the top but never overplays the joke , all the gore is played for laughs and the main characters are perfectly cast in their respecting roles.
Split
“Split” is hands down one of the best horror films in the last few years in my opinion. Directed by M Night Shyamalan, and starring the wonderful James McAvoy, the story follows a man who has dissociative identity disorder (the old term would be multiple personality disorder). A couple of his personalities are very dark and disturbing, and it is these personalities that kidnap three teenage girls.
The main thing driving “Split” is the tension and the incredible performance from James McAvoy. The several personalities we see in the film all have their own quirks, mannerisms and voices and the plot is tense and intelligent. It's pretty hard to outshine James McAvoy in this, but protagonist Anya Taylor Joy (who also starred in 2015's horror stand-out “VVitch”) holds her own, she has sort of a frightened bunny rabbit air to her but turns out to be surprisingly sharp, inventive and clever. “Split” has a great twist and a nod to one of Shyamalan's previous films.
I have had a long frustration with M Night Shyamalan, as one of the approximately three people on planet earth that it seems didn't love “The Sixth Sense”. I thought “The Visit” was absolutely horrible as well and I don't even want to mention “Signs”. He has always struck me as a director capable of so much more than he actually produces and this is the first time he's ever delivered a film which sucker punched me right in the gut in the way I knew he was always capable of. Split deserves every single word of the the lavish praise heaped upon it in my opinion.
The Babadook
The little Australian indie psychological horror “The Babadook” was a bit of a surprise success when it came out in 2014. Essentially a tale about grief, it follows Amelia, who is raising a “troubled” little boy Samuel alone after the death of her husband in a car crash several years ago. Amelia basically seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown and has never fully dealt with the death of her husband, and Samuel is an insomniac who is terrified of imaginary monsters which he builds his own weapons to fight...occasionally taking them to school to the horror of the teachers and his mother. One night Amelia reads Samuel a pop-up book called “Mister Babadook”, which tells the story of a tall, pale, humanoid creature who torments people who become aware of his existence. From this moment on the Babadook (who is capable of possession), haunts their home and the usual haunted house horror escalation happens.
This sounds like a story done thousands of time before, but “the Babadook” is different. Equally a tale about scary monsters and the possessing power of grief and depression, the characters are on the verge of insanity even before he shows up. The lead performances from Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman are extremely convincing and hold much pathos in showing a home torn apart by the loss of a father and husband. The Babadook himself is extremely creepy, we don't get to see him in detail or up close often and I often feel this makes him a much scarier character. The film is frantic from the outset and only gets more so as it goes on. This is real horror, instead of cheap jump scares, and the atmosphere is intense from the first scene.
It Follows
2014 was an excellent year for horror, between “The Babadook” and this film, “It Follows”. Frankly I always change my mind as to which of these two films I like better. When beautiful teenager Jay goes on a date with her new boyfriend, she ends up sleeping with him in his car. She is then chloroformed and wakes up tied to a chair. Hugh, her boyfriend, tells her she will be followed by an entity that is passed on after sexual intercourse. The entity may be someone she knows, may look like a normal person or a monster, and will only move at a walking place, but it will keep following her, no matter where she goes.
There's so much amazing stuff to write about “It Follows” it's hard to know where to start. It has an incredibly creepy and tense feel to it. There's also a dreamlike quality about it, partially because the director wanted the film to be set in no particular time period. Jay's home shows many hints of the 80s, including the décor and an old TV set, but there are also very modern touches (including one of her sisters using a Kindle type device shaped like a seashell). The score is hands down the second best horror score I have ever heard after “Suspiria”, a couple of the songs have a slightly “Halloween” feel to them, it is synth heavy and downright creepy. The entity that follows you after sex obviously has the double meaning of how repressive attitudes towards sex affect young people still today. It's a nice play on the old 70s-80s horror trope where the “slutty” girl is the first to die. It's clever without being too “meta” which is another trope which is being done to death these days.
Cabin in the Woods
I think I would happily put this film at the top of my list of favourite horror films ever. Granted I may be a little biased as Joss Whedon is boss in my humble opinion. Cabin in the Woods is possibly the most meta horror film ever made and is heavy on the satire. If you like horror and you haven't seen this, it's highly unlikely you haven't at least heard about the twist (which comes in the first few minutes of the film), but in the interest of spoilers I won't mention it just in case...if you are one of the few people who know nothing about this film, it is much better if you go in to this film knowing little about it. Ostensibly it's the usual group of college students go on vacation to an isolated cabin in the woods type of a story, but that's really only the tip of the iceberg.
As a long standing fan of Joss Whedon, I really saw a lot of what was held back by budget and network restraints while he was filming Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel in several scenes of "Cabin in the Woods". Everything is done on a massive scale, everything is uproariously funny, yet also very creepy and bloody. The film has zombies, ghosts, mermen, unicorns (which it turns out, are not as friendly as you think), the most disturbing ballerina you will ever see in your life and pretty much every other monster you could think of. It's heavy on the sarcasm, the humour is classic Whedon. It's beautifully written, funny as hell and also still pretty damn scary. From the deliberately cringey first few “teen summer vacay” scenes which are almost unwatchable because of the cheese level to the insane twists and turns, Cabin in the Woods is one of the finest examples of self aware modern horror, carrying a strong message at it's core...stop telling the same crappy stories and morality tales in horror and come up with something new.
And on that happy note, I'll leave you. Sweet dreams. Mwah hah hah hah.